NISO Executive Director: Licensing of ISO Coding Standards

In late August I learned that the
[http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5079256.html] ISO Council would be
considering a new policy that would allow ISO to charge a licensing fee
for embedding the ISO's coding standards - ISO 3166 Country Codes, ISO 639
Language Codes, and ISO 4217 Currency Codes - in software products.

NISO is the U.S. Technical Advisory Group on ISO 3166 and ISO 639 so is
especially concerned about the implications of this change.

Today I contacted ISO and learned that the ISO's Commercial Policy
Steering Group presented its proposal to the ISO Council last week. The ISO
Council has asked for more information and "asked the CPSG to make a
clearer case for what they want to do." The CPSG will likely report back to
the Council in early-2004.

At this time there is no change in ISO Policy or practice.
And, we now have an opportunity to influence the CPSG and persuade them to
abandon this proposal.

I plan to meet with the U.S. representative on the CPSG, Bob Feghali,
ANSI's VP Business Development and CIO next week.

I feel strongly that all the standards developers and other organizations
impacted by this proposal should work together to defeat it and have begun
to contact other standards organizations to enlist their interest and support.

I welcome hearing your views on this matter and will keep you informed of
our progress.